Take A Literary Field Trip

Those keen to combine their passion for travel with a love of reading are increasingly signing up for literary tours, which can range from the laid-back to the intellectually rigorous. On the laid-back end is British Tours Ltd.'s private one-day Jane Austen trip from London ($970 for four people; britishtours.com). Travelers visit her home at Chawton, where she wrote "Emma" and "Mansfield Park"; Bath, which figured in many of her works, and the city of Winchester, where she is buried. On the more rigorous end is The Hours, a New York City-based company that mixes sumptuous tours of Europe with book discussions led by a literature professor. Henry James's Tuscany ($1,160 per person for six nights; the hoursnyc.com) is set on an estate in Monterongriffoli, Italy, and includes cooking classes and truffle hunts. Madame Bovary's France, planned for next fall, will be set in Gascony and include visits to cheese and olive farms. Don't forget your book.

—Anna Kuchment

© 2007